the longest ten seconds. don't drop it! that's "fox & friends" for another spine tingling episode. join us tomorrow for the final concert series, live from new york.

bill: every minute that passes other nation gets closer to the $16 trillion mark in national debt. stewart varney cankor of "varney & company" and fox business network. good morning to you. we'll connect a lot of dots between all of this. go forist. >> start with doug ol' men cover yesterday. he is the top bean counter. he is warning about the recession because of +++cña

>> if lawmakers do not reduce the deficit sharply in 2013 because of the near term economic consequences they will need to reduce later. at some point we need to adopt policies, that require people to pay significantly more in taxes, accept substantially less in government benefits and

services or both. bill: two key things, taxes and government benefits. one or both. >> well he is saying that the government has got to bring in more money and stop spending so much money. that is what owe is saying. there is no agreement, on how exactly you do that. governor romney and most republicans are saying you bring in more money by reforming the tax code, lowering tax rates and abolishing some deductions. president obama says you bring in more money by raising taxes. governor romney and the republicans say you stop spending so much by entitlement reform. president obama is saying, you cut entitlements and you raise taxes on the rich, to reform the entitlement process. so there is no agreement on how you bring in more money and stop spending so much. that is the impacts. bill: we're at 75 days away from an election. which means these big, big issues, stuart, have a seven-week window after the election and the first of the new year to get ironed

out. >> yeah. bill: back to the jobs number. why is this number not getting any better? >> because we've got a recession in europe, a dramatic slowdown in china and our own internal economy is not generating significant demand. there is no confidence on the part of private enterprise we're going to expand in the future. so the firing process continues, but the hiring process is not robust. bill: see you at 9:20 on fbn. stuart varney leading our coverage and connecting the dots as we go this morning. thank you, stuart. martha. martha: more context on the weekly jobless numbers that came out. you see the roller coast other on this chart really since december 2007. that is when the economy first started to show signs of faltering. the biggest spike in the first third of that chart was in late 2008 and 2009. today the we are at 372,000 for those jobless applications. when they fall consistently below 375,000, that suggests that highering is strong enough to start to pull the

employment rate down. that what you need in terms of falloff in the new claims and meaningful number that would be translated into this yellow line area. which shows where a healthy economy is and we have been, having a tough time getting significantly below that number to start to put together a real economic recovery. bill: so now come the politics in all this now. governor mitt romney keeping focus on the deficit, spending and cbo report. crushing burden of heavy u.s. borrowing inching closer to the disaster they anticipate at the end of this year unless something is done now. here is governor romney in iowa, slamming the president on his policies. >> he said he would cut the deficit in half. he doubled it. he said he would get people good jobs. instead we've gone 42 straight months with unemployment over 8%. 23 million americans out of work or stopped looking for work. it is inexcusable. >> there is governor romney. the battle is joined by the other side. vice president joe biden in

detroit talking about the deficit saying it is not all the president's fault. >> we inherited a deficit of, a bill, for one trillion dollars, before the president sat behind his desk. and the middle class that was devastated. and now, and now, it's amazing. they discovered the middle class and they care about it. bill: well the president and vice president are not on the trail today for the campaign. governor romney though is in new mexico, a swing state. five electoral votes there. coming up we'll debate the president's record on the economy and new claims from his campaign that his policies have created more jobs in this recovery than president ronald reagan did during the recovery of the early 1980s. martha: we'll dig into that, show you some of the numbers. how about the weather, folks. we're four days out from the republican convention in tampa and there could be a possible unwanted guest

attending the convention. tropical storm isaac could become a hurricane today. we're told it is barreling toward the u.s. coast. florida is clearly in the cross-hairs when you look at any tracking models out there. who is our expert with the tracking models? of course janice dean live in the fox extreme weather center. janice tells us whether we cover a hurricane or a convention. >> maybe both. maybe both. i would hate to be the organizers watching this system. it is few days out. we still have a few days to get preparations in line. if you live in south florida or the keys, you want to start preparations now. that cone is coming over on top of you sunday into monday. there is tropical depression number 10. that will probably become joyce. there's isaac. isaac is huge. 1,000 miles wide. that spans from, atlanta up to boston, if you're to put this storm on a map. so there it is. you know what, guys? there is some strengthening happening here. how can we tell? the outflow, looks, starting

to see that sort of circle here and we're also seeing that the higher clouds tops, colder cloud tops, deeper reds and ma roons. i think as of the next advisory, 11:00 eastern time that will give us a brand new track. it will tell us wind speeds. i think winds are going to go up. this could be a hurricane before it makes its first landfall we think across hispaniola. you see some of the radar images coming acrossan juan, puerto rico, across the dominican republic. very wide storm system. even if the storm is offshore we'll feel effects across the west coast of florida. some of the wind gusts, martha, 30, 40 miles per hour, across portions of puerto rico. that will continue. there's the track as we go further out in time, martha, that cone gets bigger. so everywhere from new orleans all along the panhandle down towards south florida, monitoring this very carefully. of course tampa, so vulnerable to storm surge and flooding, martha.

that is why we're keeping a close eye on this. martha: that's why we're all keeping a close eye on it. when you look at water temperatures in that area, that could sort of feed the argument it will pick up some momentum over the caribbean areas and hispaniola as you said. as it goes over the land masses it could sheer off a little bit, right? >> good point. we're expecting could make landfall over hispaniola. that could be devastating for haiti, hundreds of thousands of people are still in tents because of earthquake several years ago. it could make a second landfall across cuba. we'll see what kind of storm we're dealing with after that. man, if this storm is intact. look at water temperatures across the florida straits. close to 90 degrees. that is hot tub water. that will just fuel the storm system. it will not take much more for the storm to strengthen over the gulf of mexico. all those tropical models, we showed you, moving into the gulf of mexico. no question we'll be dealing with the storm system somewhere. martha: it could be haiti first.

our thoughts to the people there because they're in a tough, tough situation. janice, thank you very much. we'll check back in with you a little bit. bill: pack the gortex. maybe we'll get rain drops. martha: hot though. bill: oh, yeah. florida in august. you betcha. some 70,000 visitors will be in tampa for the convention and tampa's mayor said at one point yesterday he is ready to call off the convention if necessary. >> i don't think it is going to be a factor in this particular convention but we are prepared, in the event that it is. bill: backed away from that a little bit later in the day. tropical storm isaac expected to become a hurricane over the next 24 hours or so. it could enter the florida straight over the weekend. we know it will affect florida, but don't know how much. officials do the best to get ready discuss in case. >> we want to make sure the safety of those visitors to tampa is it moist in their preparation as they, as they consider how to go forward with that event, should the storm go towards the

tampa bay area. bill: so we're watching the track. we'll get an update a little later this morning as janice just said from the national weather service and we'll keep you updated on isaac's location. martha: they continue to staple carpet as we saw in the last pictures. why is the hurricane watch such a big deal? in tampa over 800,000 people live in evacuation zones for a cat gather 1 hurricane. few hurricanes hit the city of tampa. the last time it got a direct hit in fact, back in 1946. 66 years ago. it has been 91 years since a major hurricane, category 3 or higher hit the tampa bay region. we hope we don't break the record. >> right on. rain or shine or hurricane, fox news is america's election headquarters. martha and i will start the coverage sunday at 4:00 in the afternoon. martha: yep. bill: there abouts, right? we'll be on the air every morning for the rnc. next week in prime time, join bret baier and megyn kelly alongwith with the

entire fox news election team with speeches analysis and complete coverage starts from tampa on sunday, sunday, sunday. martha: i will see you there. there are new signs the race for the white house could end in a photo finish. we'll show you where the candidates stand in all important swing states. a bit of momentum change in these numbers. we'll ask one of the most knowledgeable campaign managers in the business what both sides need to be thinking about right now to win. bill: also a stunning report on the economic realities facing america's middle class. what is happening to them at the moment that has not happened since the end of world war ii? okay, here's the plan.

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. .. martha: go to mars for a second, shall we? nasa's curiosity rover passed the first driving test with flying colors. here are the newest pictures of the red planet beamed back to earth. how cool is that? confirming that kir rossty drove 15 feet.

that is how we started my daughter's drivers permit as well. 15 feet in the driveway. it will have a 1500 foot across mars in about a month and a half. the ultimate mission is to determine whether life ever existed on the red planet. bill: got to start somewhere. martha: yep. bill: look as great in hd also. new indications the race for the white house is heating up. this map behind me is from realclearpolitics.com. it takes all the polling and puts all together. estimates president obama on the electoral map, 221 votes. governor mitt romney at 191. toss-ups in the middle, 126. remember 270 is the magic number to win it all. what is interesting on the map is the states in yellow. undecideds increased since last time this polling was done. nevada, take note of that. state of wisconsin. paul ryan. state of michigan. that is where governor mitt romney grew up and also the state of new hampshire

where governor romney has been spending a lot of time. what does all of this mean right now ed rollins, served as national campaign direct for the reagan re-election team in 1984. veteran of several presidential campaigns, fox news contributor. >> good morning. bill: i see your ipad. i know you're doing your home work. >> i'm doing my homework. bill: what does that tell you. >> tells me 14 states will decide this election. romney is in a position where he can win this thing. he has to run the board a little bit, if he doesn't win florida, doesn't win ohio obviously impossible to get to 270. numbers are looking good. they're close. as i said on the show several weeks ago+++3s#x

>> ryan clearly made it competitive. he has represents 1/8 of the state. he is very, very popular person there and my sense he is clearly put it into potential win column. bill: florida, the race has gotten tighter. i think president obama had a five-point lead some two weeks ago. it is now within one or two according to some polling. >> the interesting thing when you sit down with operatives who run these states, you will see eight or nine gubernatorial races. this is not a national election, these are statewide they know exactly where they have to go and counties and cities where they have to get certain votes and you could put side by side the two people running these campaigns in florida or ohio, and they can tell you exactly what their goals are. that is question of making sure the voters --. bill: when you talk to them i imagine they would say still about the economy, still about jobs. after you went through the bank bailout, went through auto bailout, largest

stimulus plan ever and still unemployment above 8%? >> you're not moving those obama voters away from him. those that are dedicated are going to stay there until the bitter end. and i think, there is no good news ahead for the president between now and election day on the economic front. and i think that four or 5% i say still out there may shift in the end and make the difference between a, a victory here for --. bill: look at electoral count now. that is a shift of 21 electoral votes. >> none of them are in the bank today but, there is really 36 states that don't matter. they matter obviously in the sense that they're important and we want everybody to go vote but, california, and new york are gone. texas is on our side. and you're battling out in these nine, 10 other states. bill: those folks in 36 states are probably not going to see a lot of advertising. bill: they will not see a lot of advertising. bill:. bill: that is welcome. >> they don't know a presidential campaign going on other than if they watch

fox news. if they're a big state for fundraising is texas and california may see an occasional visit as we saw the president of the united states in new york again last night. bill: we'll see you in tampa. >> my pleasure. bill: ed rollins. thank you, sir. martha, what's next. martha: talk about the fox guarding the henhouse? a scathing report that finds out the +++zj:"

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bill: 24 minutes past the hour now. there is a new study claims children of older fathers may be more at risk for autism. that report in the journal, nature, that older men may have gene mutations that occur earlier as they age and those mutations could lead to higher autism rates. the fda is recalling can tell hope from a indiana farm because of possible salmonella contamination. 181 people in 20 one states have become sick and two people died. singer taylor swift a wedding crasher? she is dating ethel kennedy's son connor. when they tried to attend a wedding of his cousin in boston they asked her to leave because she was attracting attention away from the bride on her big day. martha: you could see that happens. >> certainly could. martha: all the young ladies are focused on taylor swift instead of the bride. that is not what a bride wants on her big day. bill: especially if she brought her guitar. martha: tends to draw a little bit of attention.

okay. work that out. there is new developments now in the botched gun-running sting known as "fast and furious." two republican lawmakers+++$x mr. mcmahon was given this

leave of absence so he could start collecting a six-figure salary from jpmorgan in the philippines on top of the six-figure salary he still gets from the atf. these two lawmakers say that the law prohibits atf officials from taking outside jobs like this one. >> this is somebody who our report said perjured himself before the congress. we don't understand why jpmorgan would hire somebody who has lied to congress and probably be for criminal prosecution. we certainly don't understand why atf is not only paying this person, bill mcmahon, but they're also adding to his pension. >> reporter: mr. mcmahon was one of five people directly blamed for the failure of "operation fast and furious" in a congressional report. last summer he said he knows he messed up. >> as atf senior executive in charge of the west region, i share responsibility for mistakes that were made in the "fast and furious" investigation. the advantage of hindsight,

the benefit of a thorough review of the case clearly points to things that i would have done differently. >> so grassley and issa sent a letter to the doj asking who approved mr. mcmahon's leave so that he could start double-dipping? martha: clearly seems that atf is not censuring or punishing him. they arranged this as part of his leave. what has their response been to this reaction? >> so far they have confirmed bill mcmahon is still an atf employee but a spokesman for the atf wasn't able to confirm any other details because they say it is a personnel matter. martha? martha: peter doocy, thanks, peter. bill: are you ready for tampa? martha: i'm ready for tampa? bill: i'm red too then. are you ready for charlotte? martha: i'm ready for charlotte. bill:. all in time. the new report warning that some hospitals treating medicare patients may pay a steep price under the president's health care law. we have details on that, in

the bottom line. martha: a bold new claim from the obama campaign that is surprising a few people. they have compared the president's record in job creation to ronald reagan's. so which president really did create more jobs in this country? got a debate coming up. see you then. ♪ [ male announcer ] introducing new dentyne split to fit pack. it splits in to two smaller, sleeker packs that fit almost anywhere so you can take them everywhere. dentyne split to fit. practice safe breath.

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we love to travel -- and there's so much more to see. so we found a plan that can travel with us. anywhere in the country. [ male announcer ] join the millions of people who have already enrolled in the only medicare supplement insurance plans endorsed by aarp, an organization serving the needs of people 50 and over for generations. remember, . . help cover what medicare doesn't pay. and could save you thousands a year in out-of-pocket costs. call now to request your free decision guide. and learn more about the kinds of plans that will be here for you now -- and down the road. i have a lifetime of experience. so i know how important that is. bill: now this new report showing thousands of hospitals may get hit by the new penalties under president obama's health care law. there are new rules that will cut medicare reimbursements. if a hospital readmits too

many patients, too soon after they're discharged. jonathan serrie live on that story out of the atlanta. what did you find out, jonathan? >> reporter: good morning bill. you might be surprised to see the number of highly ranked hospitals, places such as massachusetts general, on a list of more than 2200 hospitals facing potential medicare penalties for the number of patients who come back within a month. well-known new york presbyterian and university of chicago medical center could lose some medicare funding in october. a policy that will affect roughly two out of three hospitals evaluated by medicare according to analysis by kaiser health news. >> readmissions has been a low-hanging fruit for medicare. they have been very unhappy that about two million medicare beneficiaries are readmitted every year. between 30 days of discharge. >> reporter: the penalties are part of the affordable

care act effort to reward hospitals for the quality of care they deliver instead of quantity of services but physicians debate whether readmission rates are the best measure of quality. >> among patients with heart failure, hospitals that have higher readmission rates have lower mortality rates. so which would we rather have? hospital readmission or a death? >> reporter: critics fear the penalties will hurt research hospitals that take on difficult cases and safety-net hospitals that care for poor patients who lack adequate primary and follow-up care. researchers who helped develop the quart measures say they take the factors into account. >> hospitals are caring for patients generally sicker, that will be accounted for by the measures. >> reporter: now, experts disagree exactly how much control hospitals have over readmissions, pointing out that many outpatients fail to take prescribed medications or follow through on recommended diets but now that these hospitals are faced with penalties, the theory is that these hospitals will take

ownership of the problem, and, follow through with patients even after their release. at least that is the theory, bill. bill: we swhal see. jonathan serrie in atlanta on that. jonathan, thank you. >> reporter: certainly. martha: all right. back to election 2012. a top member of president obama's campaign team is now saying that president obama has created more jobs during his recovery than president ronald reagan did back in the '80s. here is stephanie cutter. >> i think that worker probably has a good understanding what has happened over the past four years in terms of the president coming in and seeing 800,000 jobs lost on the day the president was being sworn in and seeing the president moving pretty quickly to stem the losses, to turn the economy around. over the past 27 months, we have created 4.5 million private sector jobs. that is more jobs than in the bush recovery, in the reagan recovery. there is obviously more that we need to do. martha: monica crowley is radio talk show host.

doug schoen, former pollster to president bill clinton. both are fox news contributors. monica, let me give you the first crack at this. is she right? >> apparently according to stephanie cutter is it is morning in america. the problem it is untrue. look, by every economic measure, the reagan recovery is far outpacing what we now call the obama recovery but it is not really a recovery. i think we're going to need a recovery from the recovery. look in the first 37 months of the reagan recovery we had a net gain of 9.8 million new jobs. in the first 37 months of the obama recovery, we have a net gain of 2.7 new jobs. also when you look month by month, we had one month last year we had zero net new jobs created. one month in the reagan recovery we had 1.1 million new jobs created. martha: monica, jump in for one second. i want to pull up numbers to back up exactly what you're

saying. let's pull that up. excuse me for jumping in. i want to show people the number on the screen. this is the period discussed here. brought up a 27-month period. may 2010 and july 2012 where we are right now. 4.2 million private sector jobs added. look at reagan comparison. bureau of labor statistics numbers. similar time period, november '82 to january '85, 7 million jobs created. those numbers come from the bureau of labor statistics. monica, finish your thought. >> by every measure, including job creation month to month, as well as labor participation rate which under reagan once that recovery got going, anybody who want ad job was looking for one, could essentially find one. under president obama, the labor participation rate is down to 63.7%. which is a historic low. by every measure the reagan recovery really create ad boom where the obama

recovery has not. martha: think about sentiment in the country and i being think about that period, doug, there was a feeling things were turning around. when you look at the right track wrong track numbers that came out yesterday, 61% said they felt we're on the wrong track. compare it in those terms, is it morning in the america again? is that the sentiment. >> opinion in 1984 turned around slowly. when the morning in america ads started running, martha, in january and february of '84. it was a very close election. walter mondale was actually ahead of ronald reagan. i think the statistics monica cites are largely correct with one caveat. the bush recession was responsible for the deep ditch we were in. the american people understand that, martha. that is one of the reasons why the wrong track numbers are what they are. when asked to blame bush or obama for current economic woes, still more people blame president bush than president obama. the recovery, undeniably weaker than we would like it

to be. stephanie cutter is probably going further than she should. net job creation is about the same under george w. bush and under president obama but bottom line, obama's argument is that he turned around a stumbling and dying american economy and is on the path to, some revitallization with all the problems both you and monica rightly cite. martha: you rightly point out in your notes before we+++vñ

keep in mind reagan was able to unleash the private sector to get the incredible job creation and economic growth. he deregulated. he cut taxes with with the most unprecedented tax reform in the summer of 1981. barack obama has done the exact opposite. he has enlarged government to unprecedented levels and that's why he is getting the opposite result of the reagan recovery because he has done the opposite of ronald reagan. martha: that's the big question here, the underlying philosophy how to turn things around. whether or not to rein in government and allow the private sector tax cuts that you hope will turn around to simulate business, doug. that's the opposite of what we're seeing, that the tact is totally different. >> what ronald reagan got in both '81 and '85 was bipartisanship. the democrats were willing to go along and it benefited all americans. the level of bipartisanship president obama has seen, has been sadly not enough. now the president himself, i

think is culpable but i think the republicans, particularly the tea party need to be held accountable and one more point, martha. bottom line, monica is exactly right. policy matters. i would sit here and say to both of you i'm not convinced governor romney has not articulated a strategy to grow the economy, create jobs and turn america around. the reason the race is close they don't see in mitt romney what they rightly saw in ronald reagan. >> the governor has a 59 point pro-growth economic plan and tax reform and. it is reaganesque. >> you're only one aware of it, monica. martha: that is the point. perhaps it has not been communicated in a way people are wrapping their arms around and understanding. that is clearly the job that the romney campaign has cut out for them at this point. monica, doug, very interesting background own all of that. and thanks to you. we'll see you soon. >> thank you. bill: quick check of the markets right now. we gave you the jobless

number about 45 minutes ago. it was not good. a disappointing jobs report weighing on markets right now. still 13,000 but off in early minutes of trading. 49, 4, some 50 points right now. we'll see+++e ,

. ..

. ..

. . martha: fox news alert. governor rick scott is in florida of course and he is making emergency preparations for tropical storm isaac. they are getting ready should it hit. they want to be prepared and

ready for the worst there as the rnc convention getting ready to roll in tampa. we're all watching that very closely to see what we need to keep in mind. that is the track of it. big track coming out after 11:00 janice dean tells us. we'll find out a new direction for isaac. bill: we have something to do next couple days, don't we. watch the radar. worst decade is modern history. that is the headline from a new report about america's middle class. for the first time since the world war ii, middle class families are seeing their incomes slide backwards. if you're one of them, you know this already. gerri willis, anchor of "the willis report" on the fox business network and good morning to you. define the middle class. pew research by the way. >> they're big. bill: they're big. they have a track record too. they put the middle class, income between 39,000 and 118,000. >> that is a very wide range, right? what they show is that the proportion of americans in the middle class is shrinking.

this year it is 51%. 41 years ago, 1971, it was 61%. so we see the middle class here shrinking, getting smaller. americans are saying now in the pew research survey, 85% say it is more difficult to maintain their standard of living today, for a variety of reasons. they're having a hard time keeping up. bill: let me get to reasons in a moment. maintaining standard of living. you mentioned it. more difficult or less difficult? 85% say more difficult. the reasons are what? what is the cause here? >> the causes are many. jobs market. you've seen that. jobs being shipped overseas, you've seen that. wages are shrinking. look at median income over this period of time. +++éeh

>> we still have inventory. we're still fighting the fight a lot of people see some end in the future for this housing market but to telling you the truth, bill, we have to see better jobs numbers. that's the key. bill: which we did not get today. 62% the survey finds of middle class americans say they were forced to reduce household spending in the past year. 53% did that in 2008. so as the years go by, more and more people, are spending less and less. >> here's the problem, the recession has been over for two years now. we should be doing better now.

things should be getting better. they're not. they're getting worse for some americans, pew says this, wherever we looked at it is worse off now than 10 years ago. wherever we looked, every catter go. by some measures this period is setting historic records not only for gloominess but economic impact. >> lower middle class, lower net worth people, their net worth down 45% during this period. 45%. bill: that is remarkable. the worst decade since the end of world war ii. that is the headline from pew research. >> not good news. bill: that is where your votes come from in november. >> that's correct. bill: gerri willis, check her out, on the fox business network. "willis report" rolls your way 6:00 eastern time. then again at 9:00 eastern time on the fox business network. thank you, gerri. martha? martha: well he was supposed to be the watchdog doing what was called an independent review of the money that the white house gave to green energy companies but there is some new details out there that show that that review may

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♪ . bill: "star wars" theme. if you can recognize that, right? you can fly like a jedi, martha, yes you can. the california company developing a personal hover craft. the tav. or the tdav. zips around suspended several feet in the area. won't find it in the store anytime soon. more tests are planned next year. that is kind of cool. check it out. martha: we'll have that eventually. bill: if we can only be so lucky. the company says the technology is more applied to unmanned drones.

get one of those too. martha: so there's a new report that find a wall street executive who exonerated the white house's energy loan program, then became a pretty sizable donor to the campaign. herbert allison, jr., started giving money to the obama campaign two weeks after telling congress the government was not at high-risk in its more than $23 billion loans to green energy firms. molly henneberg looking at the story from washington. how much money are we talking about in campaign contributions from mr. allison? >> more than $52,000. herb allison, jr., former treasury department official and former wall street executive finished his review of the green energy loans in february, testified before congress in march, suggesting that the loans were not as risky as they could have been and then began donating to the obama re-election campaign two weeks later. three more donations would follow over successive months, adding up to $52,500 to the obama campaign and the democratic national committee.

that was after the review of the loans was complete. but the top republican on the house energy committee, congressman cliff stearns, says allison's financial support for the president's re-election effort, quote, undermines his credibility and shows once again, that the president did not want a careful, independent, review of his risky green jobs scheme. the loans were reviewed, you may remember in the wake of solyndra, the california solar energy firm going bankrupt and costing taxpayers at least $528 million. martha? martha: herb allison has given money to republicans in the past. he was a merrill lynch executive as you point out on wall street. what is he saying in his own defense or response on this? >> reporter: he insists his review of the energy loans was independent and not politically driven. about giving money to the president's campaign, allison said he saw the president's quote, administration in action and decided i believe broadly in the things he is trying to accomplish. allison as you were saying, martha, has given to

republican candidates, including senator john mccain although in smaller amounts according to federal financial records. in fact when mccain ran for president in the year allison was hisings in finance chairman. he was tapped by president george w. bush to try to shore up fannie mae after the wall street street collapse in 2008. but also in 2008, allison gave $200 to the obama campaign. so as you were saying, martha, he has given to both democrats and republicans. martha: very interesting. molly, thanks so much. molly henneberg in d.c.. bill: there are new concerns for the re-election bid at the white house and the problem comes from inside president obama's own campaign. we'll tell you what that's about. martha: plus president obama slamming governor mitt romney on education issues and school funding. we explain why that could be a losing argument in this election cycle because there's a brand new poll out on that. [ male announcer ] if you have to take care of legal matters.

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martha: new questions about what exactly is going on inside the obama re-election campaign. it is dealing with job numbers, according to new report things have been going on within his own campaign. we will he'll talk about that. i'm martha maccallum. bill: i'm bill hemmer. we have new polling numbers out with the race tightening in wisconsin and florida. the message has become increasingly blurred in recent weeks with some of the president's closer advisers criticizing his policies. martha: steven hayes, a senior writer for and fox news

contributor. can you hear me? >> reporter: yeah. martha: we are talking about a piece in politico. it looks at what the hidden fault lines in obama's calm paeurpb. h campaign. that there is sort of an inch fighting in between the washington staff, the white house staff and the chicago stof. what d staff. what do you think of this. >> i think he's in a position to be telling these stories about the kind of inch fighting that we've seen and heard about inside the obama campaign. my view is that the inch fighting we're seeing inside the obama campaign pales in comparison to the problems with president obama's record. you expect to this inch fighting and power struggles between the people in washington working in the white house and the people in chicago that are running the reelect. they are naturally going to be

pretty significant tension between those two camps. i think there is a bigger problem for president obama, his record, this economy, lack of leadership on entitlements. martha: one of the things that is suggested in this is that there are frayed nerves, concern as to what is going on in the campaign. that brings me to governor romney and if we are seeing him solidify his narrative, which we talk about a lot out there on the campaign trail. and whether or not president obama expected to be in this position, neck-and-neck. how much is attributed to the dynamic we see between these two. >> if you look at the monthly jobs reports the past six months, you look at where the economy is broadly, the obama campaign has to be leased to be tied at this point even with the challenger. i think mitt romney has done quite a bit of good for himself over the past couple of weeks, with the selection of paul ryan, with the arguments that they are

making, with the fact that they are being much more aggressive in their criticism of president obama, they are trying to portray him as a partisan not just a nice guy in over his head. you've seen some results in some swing state polls that suggests the race is tightening. states like wisconsin that hadn't been competitive before you information competitive. some place that mitt romney could run and run well and potentially win. martha: it seems to me part of this comes with being an incumbent. you've got your white house staff and you go to the hope and change team. and you look at axelrod. valerie jared an, and it makes it tough to sort of whip up that ferver and that enthusiasm that you have when you're sort of the underdog. >> this is one of the biggest

contrasts, and again one of the biggest challenges facing the obama reelect is this idea he was hope and change in 2008. by all accounts there is virtually nobody who would suggest that the obama campaign isn't running one of the most negative president he reelects in recent memory. everybody understands that. there is obvious contrast between what we saw in 2008, what the obama campaign presented their candidate as in 2008 and what we are seeing in 2012, and that has been disspiriting for the hard-core more idealistic young obama supporters back in 2008, to reconcile the fact that this guy was in theory going to elevate political discourse in america has in fact taken it down in some respwebgts to new lows. martha: always good to talk to you. see you in tampa. >> thanks, martha. martha: thanks a lot, steve. bill: governor mitt romney talking about his energy plan

today in the state of new mexico. his policy aimed at expanding domestic and offshore drilling. new mexico the 6th largest oil producing state in the country voted blue in 08. five electoral votes up there. chief congressional correspondent mike emanuel is live. >> reporter: governor romney is going to say that states should have more freedom to explore for energy on federal lands within their territory. they should also have more freedom to explore for energy off the coast, for example, virginia would like to be able to drill for oil and natural gas off of its coast and has been restricted from doing so. the goal i energ erg independene by 2020, and i should point out that energy is a hot topic for governor mitt romney out on the campaign trail. >> five things i'm going to do to get america on track today.

let me tell you what they are. number one i'm going to take advantage of our energy resources, our coal, our gas, our oil, our wind, our solar, nuclear, we are going to take advantage of the energy that we have here and build that pipeline from canada too. [cheers] >> reporter: he's coming here to the heart of oil and natural gas company to visit a oil and trucking supply company to make his pitch. bill: what are we hearing from the president's team in response. >> reporter: they are saying it oupbdz like a lot of the old policy of the past and we will never be truly energy independent. frederico pena says quote, under president obama we are producing the most natural gas ever, the most oil in 14 years and are on

track to double the amount of electricity we get from renewable sources like wind and solar. governor romney and his team will say they've been two occupied with energy above the ground, we should go to below the ground energy sources and he will say president obama is not doing enough. martha: mitt romney's running mate is spending more time in the swing state of north carolina today. congressman paul ryan expected to speak at a roundtable two hours from now. he says america needs a change. >> we will lead. we are seeking to earn your support. we want to deserve victory, so when we win we have the moral authority, the obligation, the mandate from america to get this country fixed, get this back on track, to revive the american idea. martha: north carolina especially critical for republicans, the state voted for president obama back in 2008.

bill: you have new mexico on one side of the country, north carolina and the east coast results from 2008, both of these states, new mexico and north carolina were blue for president obama back in 2008. in fact new mexico wasn't even a challenge for then senator obama he knocked off senator mccain by 15 points. but republicans see an opening in new mexico partly because it elected a female republican governor back in 2008, hence the reason why governor romney is there. on the other side of the country you see paul ryan now, north carolina also went blue in 2008. but by the slimmist of margins you will find going back to, well even florida in the year 2000. president obama and john mccain, 50% and 50% out of 4.2 some odd million votes cast senator mccain losing to senator obama by 14,000 votes in north carolina, republicans obviously think that north carolina is back in play on their side, in

their favor this time around in 2012. the campaign rolls on at 8 minutes past the hour. martha: let's head for a moment overseas. new violence today in syria. anti-government forces capturing a string of security posts along the iraqi border while fights has broken out in damascus and aleppo. leland vittert joins us live. have the rebels been able to make nay gains in recent efforts. >> reporter: it looks like bad news for the rebel, more good news for the government who has taken some key neighborhoods there in damascus, the capitol where shelling continues. the video we're seeing from the rebels fighting aleppo where they've given up other key neighborhoods seems to show them very badly out done and their pleas to the international community for weapons and ammunition have so far gone unnoticed and unsupplied there

in the northern part of the country. the rebels in aleppo have a little bit of a home field advantage. that doesn't seem to be helping them that much as most of the fighters are fighting on the streets they grew up on. martha: what is the latest on the syrian chemical stockpiles we talked so much about a couple of days ago? >> reporter: this is the big concern. syria has one of the largest supplies of chemical witnesses in the entire middle east. he said the use of the chemical weapons or them leaving the deep pose could be a cause to act according to president obama. u.s. special operations teams have already planned contingencies for going in and trying to secure the stockpiles. martha. martha: thank you so much. bill: ten minutes past the hour. president obama attacking the republican ticket for failing to lead, he says, on the issue of education. >> governor romney has made his time as an investor the basis for his candidacy.

he doesn't think our childrens education is worth investing in. i do, and that's the choice this november. [cheers and applause] bill: we have the new poll that shows the majority of americans says that is not the issue they want washington to focus on. is the question anything but the economy? martha: a former member of seal team 6, unmasked. he said he stormed the come bound of osama bin laden and now he wants to set the record straight about what really happened that night. bill: also some staggering numbers here. they do not pay taxes, but some illegal immigrants are getting plenty in tax refunds anyway, and it is costing the american people billions of dollars. .

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worst out breaks of west nile in u.s. history. so keep an eye on that story as the weeks go by. martha: a new poll this morning that shows the majority of americans want washington to solve the nation's economic problems before focusing on fixing u.s. school systems which have been a great focus as well over the past couple of years. all this comes as president obama continues attacking republicans for cutting education spending, a big theme in the past couple of days. >> the republicans in congress lead by congressman ryan joined together to block the bill that would have helped states hire and retain more teachers and as a result tens of thousands of teachers are not coming back to school this fall. martha: according to this gallop ddk poll, excuse me, 60% say that they think it's important to balance the budget in the next five years, 38% s say fix e education system. compare that to the numbers back in 1996 which is interesting, because those numbers were reversed back then with 64% saying that they were really more focused on education than the federal budget.

that tells you a little something about living in a 16 trillion-dollar deficit world that we are in now. jonah goldberg joins me now, he is editor at large at the national review. good to have you with us. this is a two-prong discussion. the first one is that clearly they try to put p education back in the crosshairs in the past couple of days and claim that republicans want to slash education funding while the president wants to move it up, wants to keep on paying and allow more ever the teachers to hold onto their jobs as you just heard. what do you think about it? >> well, looks being first of all, in a race this tight where both come pains are targeting these incredibly narrow slices of the election threat you'll get a lot of this kind of thing. what the general public believes about things doesn't matter as much when you're doing what obama is doing, whiche essentially is micropandering. with the youth vote in particular he's trying to do the equivalent, sort of the younger set's version of mediscare,

where he says they are going to take away your pell grants, your student loans his whole re-election is dependent on getting big numbers of the students coming out. he visits calm passes more often than a red bull delivery truck because he needs their vote desperately and he needs to scare them into doing this. the challenge for a candidate like this. there isn't any such thing. harry true man could go say one thing to one bunch and one thing to another audience and it would not make the national news. now everything makes the national news, whether focusing on this stuff turns off other voters is a risk that both sides have to take. martha: you bring up an interesting point. when you go around to all of these different groups and say we'll protect what you get. we won't take away your check. you won't have to live with a smaller pell grant next year.

protecting the status quo when people are nervous seems to resonate definitely with pockets of voters out there. >> sure, i mean this is not about attracting new voters, this is about giving his own base what they want to hear and what they want to get. his base is basically a coalition of people who get stuff from the government. and so this is pandering to his pays, to gin upturn out more than anything else. as a matter of policy, one of the reasons that we had that poll that you began with, while we do see more americans generally car caring more about the budget than education, is because we've watched spending on education an enormous amount of money over the past 30 years. they understand it's sort of a rabbit hole. they understand that the problem with education isn't a money problem, it is teachers' unions, the way we do education in this country. as a general proposition people understand the more pressing need of getting our house in

order. martha: the more money we've thrown at education the lower the test scores have become across the board in this country. throwing more money at the problem, many people would say has not proven to be the solution. has paul ryan and mitt romney articulated their own vision that will sort of help people understand what their side of it is in an articulate way? >> i think they are getting there. i think they are certainly getting a lot better eight. i think paul ryan is much better at this. it's very interesting, we had a poll come out that had 40% of the youth vote saying that they were for romney now. it's a soft number, we'll have to see, but that is a deadly indicator for the obama campaign which one the youth vote by 3-1, 66% of the youth vote went for obama. if half those people stay home and the other half vote for mitt romney that will be a problem. we need those people at the

polls. bill: we find a high school church under fire for allowing a church to feed his own players. why would he be accused of violating the first amendment? we'll look at that. also, waking up without a home, the devastating reality for many families in one state. >> our feeling is if we have to get out, we'll take our personal belongings, the most important things and leave everything else. >> it's pretty scary, and it's frustrating and you just don't know.

martha: 23 minutes past the hour right now. here are some of the stories we are watching for you. lawyers for the confessed skill tpher norway say their client will not appeal if he's sentenced to prison time but he will if he's declared insane. a judgment for the man who killed 77 people last year is due this friday.

those awfully extreme drought conditions continue straggling u.s. corn crops. more than two-thirds of iowa, america's biggest corn producers is serving from doubt conditions that have been leveling off elsewhere. how about a little lead with your licorase. red vines and black licorase have high levels of led, if you have that you should toss that out. bill: the a excused colorado massacre suspect james holmes back before a judge today. his lawyers are trying to stop the release of more than a hundred pages of university records. he's accused of opening fire in a movie theater billing 12 and wounding more than 50 others. what do we know about the

records the attorneys are arguing over here? >> reporter: we know that these 100 pages of documents from the university of colorado medical center are not medical in nature. we also know that the defense is trying to keep them out of the hands of the prosecution today. the district attorney's office here of course saying that they need this evidence on james holmes for their case, but in terms of the details they contain, it's doubtful we'll learn much more about them because of a wide reaching gag order the judge has placed on the case. this comes as the university where holmes attended and dropped out prior to the shooting is not commenting on reports that the suspect was seeing three different mental health professionals before the shooting. the hearing gets underway this afternoon, and of course there are no cameras that are being allowed in the courtroom today. bill. bill: it's been a month since the shooting at that theater. you have an update now on the plans for that cinema. what are they? >> reporter: yeah, the city of aurora, as well as the owner of the movie theater, are trying to

figure that out. right now the city of aurora is asking the community what it thinks should happen, and what it's done is its put out a survey asking folks what they think should happen to that building, and the opinions vary of course. some people say it should be closed down. others say they would like to see it turned into a memorial, then there were those that would like to see part of the building remodeled. the poll runs through the end of the month. no final date on a decision. moving forward, the department building where james holmes lived, the shooting suspect was officially evicted from his residence earlier this month. his belongings were picked up by his attorneys after they were left on the sidewalk, bill. bill: martha. martha: there are new concerns that illegal immigrants are getting billions of dollars from the u.s. taxpayer. we'll tell you about the government loophole that apparently gives out refunds to people who don't work costing about $7.4 billion a year.

bill: a sweet tooth thief goes become for seconds after a high calorie heist. >> on his way out he even took the dollar out of the tip jar. it was the funnist thing. he got a couple bucks worth of change but a ton of food.

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martha: two massive wildfires are spewing 75-foot flames and forcing flee counties in california to declare states of

emergency. dozens of structures have been destroyed while thousands are forced to safer ground. crews say the lightning-sparked fire was half contained yesterday. residents say this disaster has been truly unpredictable. >> you can think that it's going to go one way, the next thing you know you look on the news or on the web and it's going the other way. >> this is probably the worst we've seen in the way of smoke right now. i'm a little more concerned right now. we are going to hold tight. martha: awful, and so many firefighters have lost their lives in this attempt. dan springer joins us streaming live from red bluff, california. just when it looked like the crews were making progress here there are more homes in danger. >> reporter: containment is up to 57%. it's returned 28,000 acres. just when we saw some residents being allowed back to their homes, more homes were threatened yesterday and more people evacuated. we were there yesterday when huge flames jumped a containment

line and threatened a backup much of homes right up to highway 36. the resources on this fire are unbelievable. 278 engines. 11 helicopters, because it has been so hot and dry there is plenty of fuel and it continues to spread. flames are in site of troy mccoy's house, a sheriff's deputy with shasta county. while his wife and kids evacuated the first day he has stayed behind. he told us yesterday, he'll know when it's time to leave. >> if it gets to my property line right there and i don't have anybody here helping me, you know, i still have my wife and my kids, so we can rebuild the house. >> reporter: 84 structures have burned so far, 900 homes are still threatened. yesterday that number had dropped to 200. again because it jumped containment more homes are now threatened, martha. martha: an awful situation. you have the crews really being stretched all along the west. where does this whole episode rank, in terms of severity for

this fire season? >> reporter: well, this fire season across the u.s. has been one of the worst, in fact it could turn out to be the worst. almost 7 million acres have burned since the calendar year began and they are well on pace to break the record. in the last week or so four states have been under state of emergency, colorado, california, washington and oregon. while the acreage is high and will set a record, probably, we haven't had a record number of structures burned. that is the good news and that's a real credit to all the good firefighting out there. martha: incredible heros out there. dan, thank you so much. bill: there are new questions about a government loophole that allows illegal immigrants to get tax refunds even though they do not pay taxes. it's called the additional child tax credit. and there is a new estimate this year that illegal immigrants could get up to $7.4 billion in

taxpayer money. carolin mays, a reporter for the daily caller has been looking at this. >> the additional child tax credit allows illegal immigrants and pretty much anyone to apply for tax benefits using just their taxpayer identification number, which is different from their social security number in that you don't need to be a citizen in order to have one you just use that number in order to tax returns. in filing the tax returns you don't actually have to be paying taxes in order to receive that child tax credit. bill: who came up with that law? that is a pretty good maneuver. that is about the largest loophole you can find. >> the earned income tax benefit is along the same sort of lines as that. with that that requires your social security number. people came out and said look we should probably remodel it, there has been legislation to that effect. but in may it was not allowed to

come up to a vote because majority leader reid says that the polls were already closed and people outside of the united states were not receiving funds. bill: you're saying back in the spring this came up before congress and harry reid said no? >> it did, this very issue came up before congress and there was legislation from a louisiana senator and senator sessions that would have booked this loophole, but that was blocked by senator reid. bill: based on what? >> based on the legitimate filers, the people who did deserve the tax credit could fail to receive it due to the new regulation. bill: even though they are here illegally. >> yeah. bill: you found one incident where four illegals claimed 20 children living with them? bill: >> four illegals claimed 20 children lived in their small trailer, and based on that claim they were able to receive nearly

$30,000 worth of uncle sam's money. bill: 30 grand. >> yes. in one instance. bill: were the kids even there or did they make that up. >> no, some of them are located outside of the united states. bill: they weren't even here. >> no. bill: boy that's some easy money if you can get it, right? >> always good work if you can get it. that was a fraudulent claim that was outside of the purview that this loophole would allow. bill: we did this story back in may, but it was not to the degree that it is today. in may we reported about $4 billion in fraud. now this number is almost double to 7.4 billion. how is that possible? >> that number was based on 2010 numbers that came out of the treasury department's inspector general report. what the senate budget committee, the republican side of the at budget committee did was extrapolate what it would

look like in 2011. which was $5 billion, and this year 7.4 billion. you can see the number continue to rise. that has quadrupled in the last five years. bill: it blows your mind. >> with that loophole we're seeing vastly larger amounts of money going to people -- bill: you mention that the legislation was held up by harry reid back in the spring. is there any effort to bring this back again? >> based on my understanding, i know that senator sessions is very passionate about this issue. i've spoken with his staff and they say that they would really like to see this loophole closed. it was -- he's the ranking member on the senate budget committee and it was his staff that came up with this report and it looks like they will be pushing this issue. bill: we'll reach out to his office to. thank you for your time today from "the daily caller" there. >> thank you very much. bill: there in washington. martha: to something completely different. prince harry and his handlers facing the wrath of the queen

after pretty much naked pictures of the young royalee merged from vegas. the pictures, which we will not show you here. as you know you can find hem online. they were taken apparently during a game of strip pool with friend and a few ladies in his las vegas suite. but harry's handlers forgot to ask the ladies to check their cell phones alternate the door, which is common when you're dealing with somebody of his well-known stature. the rest is history as we say. he'll have a meeting, interview without coffee as they call it when he heads back to his military leadership. he's had a long busy summer with the jubilee and the olympics, blowing off a little bit of steam before he goes off to military training. big deal? bill: are you giving him a pass? martha: i don't know. the people that are supposed to be watching him aren't watching him. bill: check the phone at 4:00 in the morning. i don't know if that with us at a tea party. martha: i don't think tea was

involved. i think it was late in the evening. bill: harry, get it together, man. violation of the first amendment, or just lunch. a national watchdog group attacking a high school football coach for allowing local churches to prepare meals for his team. martha: we're just about to get the latest track for hurricane isaac, national weather service issuing that at the top of the hour. we'll be right back. which way is it heading? you can't argue with nutrition you can see. great grains. great grains cereal starts whole and stays whole. see the seam? more pcessed flakes look nothing like natural grains. i'm eating what i kn is better nutrition.

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bill: we have new video now of extreatment weather that's hit parts of arizona. check out the images here. heavy rain, causing flash flooding there. state of emergency declared in the city of maricopa. cars underwater, several homes damaged, ensue average systems backed up. flash flooding in that part of

the country can come in an instant. the red cross is setting up shelters for anyone displaced by the floods. martha: a georgia high school football coach is now under fire from a national watchdog group for allowing churches to maybe pre-game meals for his team. this group is called the freedom from religious foundation and it's demanding an immediate investigation saying, quote, taking public school football teams to church even for a meal is unconstitutional. this program is an egregious violation of the establishment clause and must cease immediately. >> let's bring in our two guests. welcome to both of you. let's address this quote. this is a tradition that has been going on in theown for some time. they go to various churches around the community who serve the team their pre-game dinner, and now apparently somebody has launched a complaint. it's not clear whether it's a local person in the community or

whether it's a student. we'll deal with that in a moment. in terms of the constitutionality. brad, what do you think? >> it all depends on exactly what is going on in the church. if they are manned tore lee making these kids go to the church and there is prayer taking place, if there is more than a meal, or it's a meal, goodbye and good luck, i don't think there will be a problem there. you get more problems if the meal is surrounded by appraiser, if there are other things going on, and it's something that is mandatory that the kids have to go to and the coach makes them go to. martha: it sounds to me, kelly like the person who launched this complaint is also talking about they alleged that the coach prayed with his team, used bible versess and motivational speeches on their shirts and participated in fellowship with the athletes. that's what got this individual that is involved with all this fired up about it. >> you're right, that is something they've been focusing on. there is nothing that says,

football is a privilege not a right. secondly there is nothing that says the kids have to pray and go to the team meal. it's voluntarily. i understand a lot of kids are related to their religious groups at some of these churches. i think it's a choice. i agree with bad it can be a murky issue. i don't see it as upbs constitutional. the separation between church and date is mandating that you participate in a specific religion. it's not the freedom of choice being taken away from you. and here we don't have that. martha: they want to make a nice meal for the football players, it's a raising school spirit issue, it appears to me based on everything i'm reading about the tradition ph this town. it does raise a big question. don't we have bigger fish to fry right now than this? >> i think so. i think the most idiotic claim is that the coach uses biblical phrases in his motivational speeches. that is idiotic. i don't think they will get anywhere with that. i don't think any coach, any football team, any team, i

wrestled and my coach used biblical terms. i don't think that is unconstitutional. it will hinge on what is mandatory and not mandatory. martha: that seems to be the issue, if the kids are compelled to go to these and there is somebody sitting in that room that says, look i feel like i'm being forced, does that become a legal issue if somebody is upset about it? >> it's not just that they are being subjected to it. are they subjected to participation? are they being ostracized for lack of engagement or involvement? i don't think we have that here. it's a khro*es knit community. i jokingly suggested that it was a rifle coach getting beat that high school a problem with this. it's a community that is coming together and someone outside is saying, hey i don't like this. it's separation of church and state. that's not it. it's a community pulling together, they want a win inch team, you don't hear kids

kphraeup. there are so many bigger issues out there. why somebody who is not affected at all is jumping in and stirring the pot on this. martha: this freedom from religion foundation is talking about a georgia high school and clearly this is a group that seeks to make a name for themselves by finding issues like this annex pounding on them. >> i think they are absolutely right, and it's not a student. if they were a student they would be filing a lawsuit. they won't say, do an investigation. they would file a lawsuit. once you file that lawsuit you get national news. they filed a thing that says, do an investigation. they are getting national news on doing an investigation. if it was a student involved then they would file a lawsuit. that is absolutely correct, it's either a rival coach or parent or -- martha: spaghetti and meatballs is pretty good sometimes in churches. maybe they like the garlic bread. thank you, we'll see you soon. bill: we had pizza slices on

friday. martha: pep rally day. it's all good. bill >> reporter: red beans and rice on monday for me. we are counting down to the republican convention in tampa and what may up being a hurricane. at the same time a new bulletin at the top of the hour on isaac we'll have for you. bill crystal weighs in on new polling from three key battleground states, florida, wisconsin and ohio. we'll get his take on new reporting on the ties between the obama administration and an energy company, plus whatever happened to bipartisan ship? joe trippi weighs in on that and larry sabato is here with his crystal ball. what find of bounce can the g.o.p. expect from the convention, guys, will you watch? >> yes we will. bill: we aren't going anywhere for two hours. martha: that's what we do every day on "happening now."

bill: there is new fallout on a book written by a navy seal describing what really happened the night osama bin laden was taken out. the passenger is reacting to that. live on that in a moment. martha: a thief with a sweet tooth, this bakery bust eris caught in action. wait until we tell you what his first grab was. i think it might have been a doughnut. apparently it wasn't the cash. we'll be right back. >> hhelp were so irresistible that he had to come back again. he took a couple of bucks and the rest was food, good he's. le- 8% every 10 years. wow. wow. but you can help fight muscle loss goodies. i've got revigor. what's revigor? it's the amino acid metabolite, hmb to help rebuild muscle and strength naturally lost over time. [ female announcer ] ensure muscle health has revigor and protein to help protect, preserve, and promote muscle health. keeps you from getting soft. [ major nutrition ] ensure. nutrition in charge!

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wires. for the 7th time now john lennon's killer has been denied parole. mark david chapman who you see in this picture. the decision said although he has exhibited good behavior in prison, to let him go would

greatly undermine respect for the law and trend to trivialize the tragic cause of life which he caused when he shot john lennon in cold blood in new york city. bill: we are now learning the identity of a former navy seal who was one of the first through osama bin laden's door the night he was taken out and whose upcoming book by the way on that mission aims to, quote, set the record straight about one of the most important missions in u.s. military history. as you can imagine there is reaction from the pentagon and all in and our national security correspondent skwrefpb griffi jennifer griffin has more on that. >> reporter: fox news has learned the identity of a team 6 member navy seal, who coauthored "no easy day" a book set to hit the shelves on september 11th. known until now only as marco even a name under which he wrote the book fox news has learned

that his name is matt bissennettee age 36 from alaska. he became a seal in 1999. he recently retired as he -- as did at least one other member of the seal team 6 involved in the raid. according to his publisher, penquin group, he was one of the first men through the door on the third quote of the tore orist leader's hideout and was plea at this is death. he writes, it is time to set the record straight about one of the most important missions in u.s. military history. an experienced member of elite navy seals also participated in the rescue of richard phillips in the indian ocean in 2009. that mission involved a daring mission that ended when they shot three satisfactory mali pirate, all direct shots to the head. he protected his fellow seal six

members by changing their names in the book. the book was not vetted in anyway by either department to prevent unwanted classified information from being released. u.s. navy officials tell fox it is possible this seal or any other former service member could be punished for revealing national security secrets related to the osama bin laden raid and he could be punished -- investigated by the department of justice as far as we know. much attention has been given to the issue of security leaks, as you know, bill, in the ongoing presidential race. supporters of governor mitt romney accuse president obama of intentionally leaking operation lal details surrounding the osama bin laden raid. bill: it is something to watch. thank you for that. we'll get to the bottom of why he wanted to keep his identity secret. some of these reasons could be quite obvious, and the potential punishment that you described could be very intriguing for this former navy seal. thank you for that from the pentagon and welcome home. martha: all eyes are on the

weather radar right now as we await an update on hurricane isaac, where will it hit and will it mess up the rnc convention? we'll be right back. hey, i love your cereal there -- it's got that sweet honey taste. but no way it's 80 calories, right? no way, right? lady, i just drive the truck. right, there's no way right, right? have a nice day. [ male announcer ] 80 delicious calories. fiber one.

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martha:. as promised we have the new storm track for tropical storm isaac at this point. janice dean is in the weather center. what have we got? >> still a tropical storm but the track has shifted. i want to point out our latest edition, joyce. joyce will not affect any land mass. there is isaac. we're seeing a little bit of strengthening but they left it 40 mile-an-hour storm. but still a storm. watch the track as we go further out in time. cities expecting to go over hispaniola and cuba. the track shifted a little more to the west. tampa you're in the cone of uncertainty but the cone stretches more wider. so new orleans, louisiana, you are factored in here. martha, i want to point out. the longer the storm is over water, the